An Overdue Confession
by BlackStar001
Summary: Bruce has always been taken care of. He's always had Alfred there to help him and fix his problems when he refused to. If Alfred were to disappear, or take a vacation from Bruce, then Bruce's life would go into utter Chaos. Alfred keeps him organized, keeps him sane. Without him, Bruce is just left with a teenager and a bunch of pent up anger that needs to be released. Somehow.


Impatiently tapping his fingers on the long, mahogany table, Bruce Wayne readjusted himself in his seat. Bruce had been waiting for over 10 minutes in the watch tower. Where, supposedly, a meeting was to be held to discuss whether Dick Grayson, Wally West, and the rest of the kids were ready to become part of the JLA.

Grunting to himself, Bruce began to go over the children's abilities. Dick, he seemed to have the potential and was indeed, close to being ready for this kind of responsibility. However, he was not a leader. Dick couldn't establish a serious yet respected atmosphere amongst the kids, Wally in was immature, unreliable, impatient, never followed orders, and the list could go on. He was nowhere being ready for such an enormous responsibility. He was disorganized and impulsive, just like his mentor. Neither could be able to handle being part of the JLA, yet here Barry was. Ranked fourth in the Justice League, and doing well. As for Kaldur, he held the characteristics of a true leader. He followed orders accordingly whilst making those around him do the same. Kaldur was ready, but Bruce was unsure about his experience with on-land hand to hand combat. He'd need a bit of training before he was put into the field. Now, Roy, Bruce sighed. He didn't even want to go there. Roy would never be ready, too angsty.

Fiddling with his thumbs, Bruce glared at the clock. 20 minutes had passed and not one member of the JLA had arrived yet. He was willing to wait five more minutes, then he'd leave the watch tower and continue on with his day. Hopefully it would have something to do with a bath and coffee. Readjusting himself once more he gave up and made his way towards the glass wall overlooking Earth. It was a beautiful planet that needed to be protected from its inhabitants. But, if he had to wear the Bath Costume for a minute longer he was going to burst. Nothing was going his way today, and the fact that he had to wear pants, nonetheless made of spandex, put him even more on the edge.

Making up his mind, Bruce decided to give on on the meeting. If nobody had enough respect for the JLA by not showing up on time, then he'd just do things his own way. Relying on people was never his thing, made him uncomfortable and twitchy. This way, he could just leave them and continue on his own. He'd be so much more organized and wouldn't have to fret over Clark or even Dianna's opinions on his plans. Turning around he headed toward the door, his cape dragging close behind him. Reaching for the handle, the door slide open. Face-to-face Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne stood in the doorway. Clark seemed to be cheerful and in a happy mood, while Bruce obtained the opposite.

"You're precisely 30 minutes late." Bruce growled dropping his hand. Clark shrugged and jerked his thumb behind his, towards the large group of JLA members.

"The guys wanted to go get pizza" he explained as he skipped past Bruce and into his seat at the head of the table.

"This isn't some sorority, we are heroes not a bunch of girls that need to accompany one another to the bathroom, let alone go buy pizza as a pack." he argued behind gritted teeth. Pissed Bruce kept his ground, which made it quite difficult for the other members to maneuver around him and continue to their seats. Bruce seemed like a kid throwing a temper tantrum in the grocery store, everybody oblivious to him emotions, yet in the same moment they all knew what he was thinking and feeling.

Knowing he was making a scene, Bruce begrudgingly made his way _back_ to the seat that he had been sitting in prior., Stumbling, Bruce felt a tug on the fabric around his neck, jerking his upper body jerking back while his legs continued on its original designated path. Catching himself before anybody noticed, he turned his head around and yanked his cake out from under a lantern's foot. If looks could kill, the poor guy would be all over the news.

"Since everyone seems to be here, let us begin..." Bruce stated. not waiting for Clarks approval.

"Wait, The Flash still isn't here." Dianna motioned to the empty seat beside her.

"Since he also has to do with what we will be discussing, we shall stall this meeting a bit longer and wait for his arrival." Clark exclaimed almost seeming happy with himself. Bruce gripped the armrests of his chair, digging his nails into the soft material of his gloves.

Barry Allen was the fastest man alive, yet he made it a priority to always be late to something extremely important. There were a few shouts of glee and the rustling of game boards. Fed up with all the commotion and insolence, Bruce stood up abruptly, his chair screaming as it scraped across the smooth, polished floor.

"You all, ar pitiful" he growled coldly and headed back towards the door. He needed to leave the room before he exploded in a fit of anger.

"By the way, I vote no" he added quickly before he slide the door open.

"Seems like it's his time of the month" someone snickered.  
>Every week is his time of the month" someone else replied, holding in the urge to laugh. Hesitating in the doorway, Bruce waited for them to continue their conversation with one another.<p>

"It was just a joke Batman, he didn't mean it right?" Clark reassured the two. He was trying to take control of the situation before it got out of hand. They gave no response. Nobody dared to make a noise.

"I may have a bit of a cold front, but at least I'm not a coward. Why are you even a member of the JLA?" he asked calmly as he turned back around.

"Just apologize already and be done with it!" Clark pleaded.

"That's just like you Superman, you think an apology will fix everything. You butt into everybody's business, that for a matter-of-fact, is none of your own. Don't try to save them, they're adults and they can handle themselves. They definitely do not need their _mother_ to protect them," Bruce spat, "you can't save every_one_ and every_thing_. Yes, you do have the ability to do just that, however you do not possess the intelligence. You have the ability to see through anything and you can hear from miles away. But a bank could be getting robbed or some innocent woman could be shot and you'd be more focused on a cat stuck in a tree. A _cat._

Superman, in case you do not know what our priorities are, we do not get cats out of trees. That's a job for the fire department, not us. We fight villains and save _people_. Oh, and don't even get me started on how you keep your identity secret. It it's still a secret that is. You style your hair a bit differently, not even an extreme change in hairstyle, you just shove a curl behind your ear. Then you put on a pair of glasses and slouch a bit. Yes, that is such an effective way to stay hidden. Nobody will _ever_ know!" Bruce shouted at the man who was currently towering above him. Clark stood a few inches above Bruce, however he didn't have anything on him. Clarks expression looked stern yet he seemed like he was seconds away from bursting into t4ears. Rolling his eyes Bruce told himself that he needed to leave at that moment. One heroes pride damages wasn't as bad as a whole room full.

"Stop right there! You cannot get away with disgracing him like that. You need to apologize and take back everything that you just said about him!" Diana Prince roared placing a soothing hand on Clark's shoulder.

"Wonder Woman, what a mysterious name! This is, if there's anythhing left to wonder about you. I mean come on, you want to be respected by men, show us that girls can fight too, but how are you going to get any of that respect while dressing like a slut. Youre breasts alone are alreadyspringing out of your leotard, and you show off your legs way too much. We don't need to see bare skin all the way up your body to your hips. There is, literally, nothing let to wonder about you. You show everything off the world anyway! Why would be respect you, instead half the mend in this room want to sleep with you and nothing more." Bruce countered, his face red underneath the mask and eyeliner. Anger boiled in his blood and he couldn't stop himself from blurting out all of his opinions of every person in that room.

"Green Lantern. You are so unoriginal, for one there are more than one of you all over the galaxy. You're not even a hero. Just take off your oh-so-powerful rings and you're going to be some random guy on the streets selling hot dogs. As for you Aquaman, why are you even here? Seriously, you live in the sea, protecting your city from people who want to take it over. Okay, yeah I can respect that, but you cannot do anything thing to help us on on the actual Earth. What are you going to do? Call a whale to Central City so you can put out a fire? I don't think they'll make it past the shore. Then you're bigger problem would be getting the thing back into the water!

Green Arrow, did you get your inspiration from Robin Hood?Because that's really funny, why didn't you just use his name instead of Green Arrow? You'd save yourself the trouble of painting all your arrows green, and another thing, you use the most overused color of all the heroes. Just stop. Now, Captain Atom, what they hell are you even here for. You can change your size, that's about it. Bumblebee can do that too. But, you don't see her being apart of the JLA, now do you? No. You are useless and honestly, why you are here, I don't even know.

Hawkman and Hawkgirl, seriously? YOU NAMED YOURSELVES AFTER HAWKS! Why would you even do that? Hawks are so embarrassed of you now! Like what, do you fly around then grab people from the ground with your talons? HAHA no. Also, Hawkman, IT'S CALLED A SHIRT! Learn to wear one! Black Canary the same goes for you! Slut is _so last fall._ Captain Marvel, do I even need to say it?" Pausing for an answer from the boy he was rewarded with a silent yet violent head shake. Billy was a sweet kid, but he only became part of the JLA through deception, that's not accepted.

"Plastic Man, your form changes with the changing of the temperature around you. How do you fight when you turn into liquid? Serious question here. I can understand that you stretch and such, but when you actually melt.. do you slip them with your face? Red tornado, you can make tornado's but you cannot stop them? What the hell is with that? Why don't you just save the world from hurricanes instead of lowly criminals that steal jewels. I'm sure they're sick of you throwing them in circles and losing their lunches. Martian Manhunter... YOU'RE GREEN! THAT'S NOT NATURAL! Although you do belong here. I will admit that" Bruce spews.

Out of breath Bruce finally leaves the room leaving behind him a silent, awkward, and painful atmosphere. Running in right as Bruce left, Barry stood in front of the JLA and stopped himself from asking questions. For once in his whole life, Barry just sat down and shut up. Everybody looked up at him and glared, figuring it was his fault for being late. If he had been there on time _none_ of this would have happened. But, little does everybody know it was never any of their faults. Sure, they added to Bruce's anger and discomfort of the day, but they weren't the sole reason. That would mean that Bruce actually cared about them more than he lead on, and that wasn't true.

Back on Earth Bruce arrived home and slammed his bedroom door behind him. Stripping out of his costume, he replaced with with a silk robe and a fresh pair of boxers. Stalking down the stairs he joined Dick at the dining room table. It was already noon and Bruce hadn't had breakfast because Alfred had taken the last few days off. He needed the vacation, and Bruce was happy to give it to him. But, as much as he hated to admit it, he needed Alfred with him every day. Alfred was his life support, without him incidents like the JLA meeting happened. His world would go into chaos. Alfred was the one who kept it organized.

The kitchen door swung open as the very man himself walking in with a platter of steaming chocolate chip pancakes in the shape of a bat, and a fresh pot of coffee. Pouring Bruce a cup he apologized.

"I am very sorry Sir. Bruce, it turns out that the family emergency wasn't as serious as previously explained. Thank you very much for allowing me to watch the very birth of my granddaughter." He said in a somewhat gleeful tone. Dick glanced over at Bruce, his face curious and filled with worry. Alfred and him exchanged glances.

"Sir. Bruce, did everything go accordingly at the meeting?" Alfred asked as he refilled the brooding mans cup. Bruce stared at the newspaper he held in his left hand, pretending to be interested in stock. AlHe just wanted to avoid a response, he was ashamed that he'd let himself lose control like that, and Dick and Alfred didn't need to know about it. Who knew what they'd think of him after they figured it out. Dick sighed and shook him head giving on up prying an answer from him. He'd just hear from Wally what went down at the JLA meeting later.

"Should I prepare the apology letters?" The boy asked sarcastically. Bruce ignored the snide remark and stood up, grabbing the platter of steaming hotcakes and his cup of coffee. Then exited the room and headed back towards his own private quarters.

"OI'll be eating this in my room" he remarked as he stalked up the stairs and slammed the door behind him. The sound echoed throughout the big, yet empty, household. Alfred stared down at the empty spot that he had previously placed the pancakes.

"I'll go make some more for you Sir. Shall I prepare them in the shape of an R?" He asked with a slight raise to his left eyebrow. Dick's smile stretched across his face and nodded hysterically. Dick would worry about the apology letter later, fresh hotcakes were the only thing on his mind. Alfred on the other hand felt pity towards those who had attended the meeting and experienced Bruce's wrath. Apologizing to them silently, Alfred swore to never take a week off. Bruce proved that he needed Alfred a lot more than he let on. If Bruce had been properly taken care of the past week, then it would have just turned out to be a normal meeting.

Making a list of names in his head be began planning out the letters. Bruce wasn't going to apologize, it might as well be from Alfred, this way not everybody would feel so much hate Bruce. All he needed was a parent, somebody to take care of him and fix the problems that he made. Somebody that he hasn't had in years.


End file.
